The initiative entitled No more criminals in public
\noffice provides for persons who received prison sentences for acts committed
\nwith intent to no longer be able to stand for public office in the local
\nadministration and Parliament or for president of the country unless the
\nconsequences of conviction are removed as a result of a new development. The leader
\nof the centre-right Save Romania Union Dan Barna spoke about this historic
\nmoment and recalled that his party constantly pushed for this initiative to be
\ndebated as soon as possible by Parliament. He said the move does a little bit
\nof moral justice to Romania:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Today, a simple phrase becomes reality. It will no
\nlonger be possible to hold public office if you have a criminal conviction and
\nto pretend that you have the moral justification to lead that institution.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Dan Barna also said that the one million people who
\nsigned this initiative finally have their voice heard in public life. The
\nruling National Liberal Party says it supported the bill in the hope that it will
\nremain a citizens’ initiative and will not be transformed into a political
\ninstrument. Here’s the leader of the party’s group of deputies, Florin Rom\u00e2n: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As a signatory of this initiative and as someone who
\nhelped collect signatures, I would have liked this initiative not to be tainted
\npolitically, because the list of signatures did not have at the top a party
\nlogo or a doctrine. It only said very clearly that it was something the
\ncitizens wanted.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The leader of Social Democratic MPs, the largest group
\nin Parliament, Alfred Simonis, spoke about political consensus and responsibility
\nin making important decisions. In his opinion, this initiative can help earn
\nback people’s trust in politicians:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
There is now a split that is reflected in a low level
\nof trust in politicians. The Social Democratic Party, as Romania’s biggest
\nparty, even has the obligation to spearhead the change in the relationship between
\ncitizens and politicians.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The centre-right People’s Movement Party also
\nunderlines that this is a project that is not associated with any political
\nparty and that what’s important is for its principle to become law as soon as
\npossible in order to be applied. The bill will next be debated by the Senate,
\nbut in order to become law it must be put to a referendum to be held within 30
\ndays of the adoption of the bill by the upper chamber of Parliament. The Save
\nRomania Union has proposed that the referendum be held at the same time as the
\nlocal elections on the 27th September, given the health situation connected
\nto the spread of Covid-19. (CM)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chamber of Deputies adopts citizens proposal to revise Constitution to ban people with criminal convictions from public office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":82385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39863,33976],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-86313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-citizens","tag-initiative"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n